Garret FitzGerald former Taoiseach

Sceala Philosopher Location: Navan

Garret FitzGerald former Taoiseach has died aged 86
Irish Community Images

The media presented the former Irish Taoiseach Garret FitzGerald as a very intelligent man, in Ireland there was a common description of him at the time he was in power. He had the brain of a computer.
Many believe that most of all he sought peace in Ireland. No one can credibly accuse of him of not appearing professional and able. He gave authority to the office of Taoiseach in Europe.
I have always thought he was too much for the Unionists in Northern Ireland for his and our own good. Maybe his own complex background influenced all that and not a simple prejudice.
I did not think that Garret FitzGerald books ever really revealed the man as he like many of his time, were not into self critique.

There are many who will have very mixed feelings about Garret FitzGerald's time in political office. His own Brilliance was certainly tarnished by serving under a corrupt office. He stands accused by many who have studied the period - of being involved with a Irish Government that was secretly assisting the British establishment and Unionist government positions in the north of Ireland. His role in the Dublin and Monaghan bombings are the most concerning, a period which he seemed to have some guilt in later years.
On the night of the Dublin and Monaghan bombings, the then Taoiseach, Liam Cosgrave, appeared on a special television broadcast promising to leave no stone unturned until those responsible were brought to justice, yet the then Minister for Foreign Affairs, Garret FitzGerald, recently wrote:

"...it would have been better to have launched much sooner an inquiry of the kind Mr Justice Barron has now undertaken. All who subsequently held political office, myself included, must bear some of the blame for the fact that this did not happen."
Despite Mr. Justice Barron's efforts his investigation was thwarted by lack of access to relevant information both at home and abroad. A further public inquiry with investigative powers must be held to determine the whereabouts of the missing files and to charge the current or future Governments to press for greater access to relevant files in the possession of the British Government.

What the exact truth of his role in any cover up at the time - is yet to be established, but we sadly know for certain that he showed no urgency or real empathy or leadership at the time - or has since for the Irish victims. Any negative views of Garret FitzGerald has to placed in context of the government of Liam Cosgrave.
The Cosgrave Government was probably the most corrupt ever. Regardless of what people think of Bertie Ahern's role in the Celtic Tiger economy of greed and naivety, that can not be compared to the considered corruptions of Cosgraves Government. Better poor than dead! The loss of so many Irish lives to British state terrorism, that went on effectively unhindered and assisted during Cosgraves time, - will for ever be a national disgrace.

Senior politicians pay tribute to former taoiseach Garret FitzGerald
Tributes have paid by senior figures in Irish society to former taoiseach Garret FitzGerald who died this morning.

Former taoiseach John Bruton said Dr FitzGerald will "stand out as a man who changed Ireland". He said Dr FitzGerald "changed attitudes" to the Northern question and to Europe and saw that "Ireland could do best in Europe, if it contributed creatively to goals and ambitions of other members".

Extending his sympathy to Dr FitzGerald's family, Mr Bruton said "Ireland , and the world, have lost a great citizen."

Labour Party leader Eamon Gilmore said Dr FitzGerald was a man "driven to understand, to confront problems with evidence, to weight facts and to reach conclusions."

"A great citizen of our Republic is lost to us. A flame is dimmed. But the example that he offered us, the ideals that he lived by, continue to serve us today, he said.

Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin said he was deeply saddened to hear of the death of Dr FitzGerald, whom he said had served the Irish people with "great intelligence, decency and commitment".

Mr Martin said Dr FitzGerald had given "distinguished and patriotic service to our people".
"Even in recent years, though he had long stepped out of the arena of party politics, Garret took to the campaign trail with vigour and determination to help ensure the passing of EU referenda.
"Though my party did not necessarily agree with Garret on every political issue, I greatly admired his integrity, his abilities and his unfailing politeness and courtesy," added Mr Martin.

Former taoiseach Brian Cowen said expressed his sympathies to the family of Dr. Garret FitzGerald and described him as "a much loved and respected figure in Irish public life".
"He was always gracious, friendly and courteous. In our many conversations over the years, Garret was engaging and affable and could be depended upon to articulate intelligent viewpoints."
"Garret FitzGerald was a person who never sat on the sidelines and he was always willing to take the risks and sacrifice that go with an active life in politics and decision making in public affairs", Mr Cowen said.
"He was an excellent and decent politician who sought to improve the standing of our country in all that he did."

Former taoiseach Bertie Ahern said Dr FitzGerald "was never partisan or tribal". He said he "truly did put people before politics".
"Fine Gael were his party, but he recognised that no group individual had a monopoly of wisdom", he added.

Minister for Education Ruairí Quinn described Dr FitzGerald as "a man of great integrity and powerful intellect".
"Garret was passionate about Europe and Ireland’s place in it, and I worked closely with him on a number of European referenda. He was a great force for modernisation and tolerance in Ireland.
"Nowhere is this clearer than in his role in the peace process in the north of Ireland – probably his finest political achievement. He can be credited with leading Ireland on the path of rapprochement with Britain and truly paving the way for the Anglo Irish Agreement," Mr Quinn added.

Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, former ministerial colleague Gemma Hussey described Dr Fitzgerald as "a wonderful man and above all, a patriot".
She said people on both sides of the Border recognised his "utter integrity and sincerity".
Former EU commissioner and attorney general Peter Sutherland said Dr FitzGerald had an openness to new ideas and relationships that defined his life. "He was a man who will be a giant in the historical recollections of the Irish people for centuries."

Sinn Féin's Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin offered his sincere sympathies to the family of Dr FitzGerald, describing him as a "unique figure in the political life of this State and of Ireland over many years".
He said that irrespective of the differences he had with Dr FitzGerald over the years, like many other Republicans he would have respected the former taoiseach's integrity.

Green Party leader, John Gormley extended his sympathies. "He will be remembered as a modernising Taoiseach, who managed to change the nationalist mindset towards the north of Ireland and integrated Ireland more into the evolving European Union. The anglo Irish agreement and his constitutional crusades laid the foundation for a more pluralist and accommodating republic", he said.

Stormont First Minister Peter Robinson, who bitterly opposed the 1985 Anglo-Irish Agreement, led the tributes in the north of Ireland.

Mr Robinson said: “Dr FitzGerald and I disagreed profoundly on many things, especially the Anglo-Irish Agreement, but he never allowed political difference to become a bar to personal relations.”

SDLP president and Nobel Laureate John Hume , a close friend, said Dr FitzGerald was an unswerving supporter of peace and the democratic politics of his party.

He said: “A moderniser and reformer Garret helped change the face of Irish politics for the better and he enthusiastically embraced Europe and the opportunities it afforded our island.

“He displayed great intellectual foresight and inner fortitude to develop initiatives such as the New Ireland Forum and the Anglo-Irish Agreement which allowed us to open new chapters in our history and ultimately paved the way to peace and the democratic institutions we enjoy today.

“His skills and abilities that marked him out as an outstanding Irish politician of his generation also distinguished him as a journalist and an academic.” Alliance Party leader David Ford said he would be remembered as one of Ireland’s greatest statesmen.

He added: “He was very courageous when he led the Republic of Ireland at a very difficult time.”

The head of the Church of Ireland, Alan Harper and Dr Michael Jackson , Archbishop of Dublin and Primate of Ireland said Dr Fitzgerald had a unique and inspirational spirit for public service.
irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2011/0519/breaking21.html
Garret FitzGerald
FitzGerald in October 2009
Taoiseach
In office
14 December 1982 – 10 March 1987
Tánaiste Dick Spring
Preceded by Charles Haughey
Succeeded by Charles Haughey
In office
30 June 1981 – 9 March 1982
Tánaiste Michael O'Leary
Preceded by Charles Haughey
Succeeded by Charles Haughey
Minister for Foreign Affairs
In office
14 March 1973 – 5 July 1977
Preceded by Brian Lenihan
Succeeded by Michael O'Kennedy
Teachta Dála
In office
18 June 1969 – 25 November 1992
Constituency Dublin South East
Born 9 February 1926
Dublin, Ireland
Died 19 May 2011 (aged 85)
Political party Fine Gael
Spouse(s) Joan O'Farrell
Alma mater University College Dublin
Unbalanced scales.svg
The neutrality of this article is disputed. Please see the discussion on the talk page. Please do not remove this message until the dispute is resolved. (May 2011)

Garret FitzGerald (9 February 1926 – 19 May 2011) was an Irish politician who was Taoiseach of Ireland, serving two terms in office (July 1981 to February 1982; December 1982 to March 1987).[1] FitzGerald was elected to Seanad Éireann in 1965 and was subsequently elected to Dáil Éireann as a Fine Gael TD in 1969. He served as Foreign Affairs Minister from 1973 to 1977. FitzGerald was the leader of Fine Gael between 1977 and 1987.

He was the son of Desmond FitzGerald, the first Minister for External Affairs of the nascent Irish state following independence from the United Kingdom in 1922. At the time of his death, FitzGerald was the President of the Institute of International and European Affairs. He had a column in The Irish Times and occasionally made appearances on television programmes such as Tonight with Vincent Browne.
Contents

Early life of Garret FitzGerald former Taoiseach
Garret FitzGerald was born in Dublin in 1926 into a very politically active family. His father was the London-born and raised Desmond FitzGerald, the Minister for External Affairs at the time of his son's birth. FitzGerald senior had been active in Sinn Féin during the Irish War of Independence, and had been one of the founders of Cumann na nGaedheal, the party formed to support the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921, which created the Irish Free State.

Although a senior figure on the "pro-treaty" side of Ireland's political divide, Desmond FitzGerald had remained friendly with anti-Treaty republicans such as Belfast man Seán MacEntee, a minister in Éamon de Valera's government, and father-in-law of Conor Cruise O'Brien. The families of Patrick McGilligan and Ernest Blythe were also frequent visitors to the FitzGerald household. FitzGerald's mother, the former Mabel Washington McConnell, was an nationalist and republican of Ulster Protestant descent, although some sources[which?] indicate that she became a Catholic on her marriage.[citation needed] Her son would later describe his political objective as the creation of a pluralist Ireland where the northern Protestants of his mother's family tradition and the southern Catholics of his father's could feel equally at home.[citation needed]

FitzGerald was educated at the Jesuit Belvedere College and University College Dublin (UCD), from which he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1946, later returning to complete a Ph.D. which he obtained in 1968. He was deeply interested in the politics of the Spanish Civil War and World War II. A bright student who counted among his contemporaries in UCD his future political rival, Charles Haughey, who also knew Joan O'Farrell (the Liverpool-born daughter of a British army officer, Richard O'Farrell) a fellow student, whom FitzGerald would go on to marry in 1947.

Following his university education he found employment with Aer Lingus, the state airline of Ireland, in 1947 and became an authority on the strategic economic planning of transport. During this time he wrote many newspaper articles and was encouraged to write on National Accounts and economics by the Features Editor in The Irish Times. He remained in Aer Lingus until 1959, when after undertaking a study of the economics of Irish Industry in Trinity College, Dublin, he became a lecturer in economics at UCD.

Fitzgerald was a qualified barrister with the Kings Inn of Ireland.[2]
Early political life of Garret FitzGerald former Taoiseach
Garret FitzGerald was eager to enter politics, and it was suggested by several members of Fianna Fáil, including Charles Haughey and Michael Yeats, that he should join that party.[3] Ultimately FitzGerald made his entry into party politics under the banner of Fine Gael. He attached himself to the liberal wing of Fine Gael, which rallied around the Just Society programme written by Declan Costello. FitzGerald was elected to Seanad Éireann in 1965 and soon built up his political profile. FitzGerald was elected to Dáil Éireann at the 1969 general election, for the Dublin South East constituency,[4] the same year he obtained his PhD for a thesis later published under the title "Planning in Ireland". He became an important figure almost immediately in the parliamentary party and his liberal ideas were seen as a counterweight to the conservative leader, Liam Cosgrave. Difference in political outlook, and FitzGerald's ambitions for the Fine Gael leadership resulted in profound tensions[citation needed] between the two men. In his leadership address to the 1972 Fine Gael ard fheis in Cork,[citation needed] Cosgrave referred to the 'mongrel foxes' who should be rooted out of the party, a reference seen by many as an attack on FitzGerald's efforts to unseat him as leader.
Minister for Foreign Affairs

After the 1973 general election Fine Gael came to power in a coalition government with the Labour Party with Liam Cosgrave as Taoiseach. FitzGerald hoped[citation needed] that he would take over as Minister for Finance, particularly after a good performance in a pre-election debate with the actual Minister for Finance, George Colley. However the position went to Richie Ryan, with FitzGerald becoming Minister for Foreign Affairs. It was a case of history repeating itself as FitzGerald's father had held that post in a government led by Liam Cosgrave's father W. T. Cosgrave fifty years earlier. His appointment to Iveagh House (the headquarters of the Department of Foreign Affairs) would have a huge effect on FitzGerald's own career and the future of Fine Gael. Cosgrave was suspicious of FitzGerald's liberal ideas and believed that he had designs on the leadership. During his period in foreign affairs, Fitzgerald, developed a good relationship with Liam Cosgrave and all the tension that had existed between them in opposition disappeared.

The minister's role had changed substantially since his father's day. Ireland was no longer a member of the Commonwealth of Nations but had in 1973 joined the European Economic Community (EEC), now known as the European Union (EU). FitzGerald, firmly ensconced as Foreign Minister, was free from any blame due to other Ministers mishandling of the economy. If anything his tenure at the Department of Foreign Affairs helped him to achieve the leadership of the party. His innovative views, energy and fluency in French won him — and through him, Ireland — a status in European affairs far exceeding the country's size and ensured that the first Irish Presidency of the European Council in 1975 was a noted success.[citation needed]
Leader of Fine Gael

In 1977 the National Coalition of Fine Gael and Labour suffered a disastrous electoral defeat in the general election. Liam Cosgrave resigned as party leader and FitzGerald was chosen by acclamation to succeed him. In his new role as Leader of the Opposition and party leader he set about modernising and revitalising Fine Gael. He immediately appointed a General-Secretary to oversee all of this, a tactic copied from Fianna Fáil. Under FitzGerald, Fine Gael experienced a rapid rise in support and popularity. By the November 1982 election, it held only five seats fewer than Fianna Fáil (their closest ever margin until 2011; at times Fianna Fáil was nearly twice as large), with Fine Gael in the Oireachtas bigger than Fianna Fáil, an unprecedented achievement.[citation needed]
Taoiseach 1981–82

By the time of the 1981 general election Fine Gael had a party machine that could easily match Fianna Fáil's. The party won 65 seats and formed a minority coalition government with the Labour Party and the support of a number of Independent TDs. FitzGerald was elected Taoiseach on 30 June 1981. To the surprise of many Fitzgerald excluded Richie Ryan, Richard Burke and Tom O'Donnell, former Fine Gael stalwarts, from the cabinet.

Two fundamental problems faced FitzGerald during his first period: the north of Ireland and the worsening economic situation. A protest march in support of the H-Block hunger strikers in July 1981 was dealt with by FitzGerald harshly. On one occasion where he with relatives of the hunger strike, he refused to meet the family of Bobby Sands, the MP and O/C of the Provisional IRA hunger strikers, and the first to die on this strike, along with the sister of Raymond McCreesh, who had died on 21 May. During the meeting two of Thomas McElwee sisters, Mary and Nora, broke down and left the meeting. Mary McElwee stated that "He's doing nothing, he's asking for suggestions". Fitzgerald then ordered Gardai to remove the families from the meeting. Fitzgerald's response was, in the words of Eamonn Sweeney, to "lay all the blame for the hunger strikers on the Republican movement and to suggest an immediate unilateral end to their military campaign".[5]

The economic crisis was also a lot worse than FitzGerald had feared. Fine Gael had to jettison its plans for tax-cuts in the run-up to the election and a draconian mid-year budget was introduced almost immediately. The July Budget seemed exceptionally austere for a government dependent on Independent TDs support. However, the second budget introduced by John Bruton led to the Government's shock defeat in Dáil Éireann on the evening of 27 January 1982.

Viewing his defeat as a Loss of supply FitzGerald headed to Áras an Uachtaráin to request an immediate Dáil dissolution from the President, Patrick Hillery. When he got there, he was informed that a series of telephone calls had been made by senior opposition figures (and some independent TDs), including Fianna Fáil leader (and ex-Taoiseach) Charles Haughey, Brian Lenihan and Sylvester Barrett demanding that the President, as he could constitutionally do where a Taoiseach had 'ceased to retain the support of a majority in Dáil Éireann', refuse FitzGerald a parliamentary dissolution, forcing his resignation as Taoiseach and enabling the Dáil to nominate someone else for the post. The President is said to have angrily rejected such pressure, regarding it as gross misconduct, and granted the dissolution.[6]

In the subsequent general election in February 1982, Fine Gael lost only two seats and were out of power. However, a third general election within eighteen months in November 1982 resulted in FitzGerald being returned as Taoiseach for a second time, heading a Fine Gael-Labour coalition with a working majority.
Taoiseach 1982–87

Deep economic recession dominated FitzGerald's second term as well as his first. The pursuit of ‘fiscal rectitude’ in order to reduce a high national debt required a firmer control of public spending than Labour found easy to accept. The harmonious relationship the Taoiseach developed with Tánaiste Dick Spring successfully avoided a collapse of the coalition for more than four years, despite tensions between other ministers, and enabled the Government to survive. Fine Gael wanted to revive the economy by controlling public spending and imposing cutbacks in order to reduce the public budget deficit.[citation needed]

The measures proposed by FitzGerald's Minister for Finance, Alan Dukes, were completely unacceptable to the Labour Party which was under enormous pressure from its support base to maintain public services. The two parties in Government found themselves in a stalemate position. They stopped the financial crisis from worsening but could not take the decisive action that would generate economic growth. With negligible economic growth and large scale unemployment, the FitzGerald Government was deeply unpopular with the public. The Fianna Fáil opposition added to the woes of the Government by taking a decidedly opportunistic and populist line in opposing every suggested reform and cutback.[citation needed]
Constitutional reform

As Taoiseach for a second time FitzGerald advocated a liberalisation of Irish society, to create what he called the non-sectarian nation of "Tone and Davis". His attempt to introduce divorce was defeated in a referendum, although he did liberalise Ireland's contraception laws. A controversial 'Pro-Life Amendment' (anti-abortion clause), which was stated to recognise the 'Right to Life of the Unborn, with due regard to the Equal Right to Life of the Mother' was added to the Irish constitution, against FitzGerald's advice, in a national referendum.

The north of Ireland
FitzGerald set up The New Ireland Forum in 1983, which brought together representatives of the constitutional political parties in the Republic and the nationalist SDLP from the North. Although the Unionist parties spurned his invitation to join, and the Forum’s conclusions proposing various forms of association between the north of Ireland and the Republic were rejected outright by British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, the Forum provided the impetus for the resumption of serious negotiations between the Irish and British governments, which culminated in the Anglo-Irish Agreement of November 1985. This agreement provided for a mechanism by which the Republic of Ireland could be consulted by the British Government under Margaret Thatcher regarding the governance of the north of Ireland, and was bitterly opposed by Unionists in the north of Ireland, whose MPs all resigned their seats in the British Parliament in protest. New elections were required to be held in the north of Ireland, in which the unionists lost the seat of (Newry and Armagh) to Seamus Mallon of the SDLP.

While the Agreement was repudiated and condemned by Unionists, it was said to become the basis for developing trust and common action between the governments, which in time would ultimately bring about the Downing Street Declaration of 1993, and the subsequent republican and loyalist cease-fires.
Infighting and Declining Support

In 1986, FitzGerald attempted to reshuffle his cabinet but certain ministers, including notably Barry Desmond refused to move from his Health and Social Welfare portfolio. The eventual outcome of the cabinet changes further undermined FitzGerald's authority. The new Progressive Democrats party was launched at the same time by Desmond O'Malley out of the divisions within Fianna Fáil. Ironically, it struck an immediate chord with many disenchanted Fine Gael supporters who had tired of the failure to fully address the economic crisis and who yearned for a coherent rightwing policy from FitzGerald. Seeing its support base under attack from the right only strengthened the resolve of FitzGerald's Fine Gael colleagues to break with the Labour Party approach, despite their leader's close empathy with that party.

Stymied by economic crisis, FitzGerald tried to rescue some of his ambitions to reform the State and he proposed, in the summer of 1986, a referendum to change the Constitution to allow for divorce. The proposed amendment was mired in controversy and the many accompanying legal changes needed were not clearly presented. Haughey skillfully opposed the referendum along with the Roman Catholic Church and landed interests worried about property rights. The defeat of the referendum sealed the fate of the Government.[citation needed]

In January 1987, the Labour Party members of the government withdrew from the government over disagreements due to budget proposals. FitzGerald continued as Taoiseach heading a minority Fine Gael government and proposed the stringent budgetary cutbacks that Labour had blocked for some four years. Fianna Fáil returned to power in March 1987, after Fine Gael were heavily defeated in the 1987 general election. The Progressive Democrats won some 14 seats mainly from Fine Gael. Although Haughey did not have an overall majority when it came to a vote the Independent Socialist TD Tony Gregory voted against Fitzgerald but abstained on Haughey, seeing Haughey as the "lesser of two evils" (the reason for this was Gregory's personal Republican convictions and his opposition to the Anglo-Irish agreement). Haughey was elected Taoiseach on the casting vote of the Ceann Comhairle.
Post-Taoiseach period
Garret FitzGerald (centre) speaking with Peter Sutherland (left) and Will Hutton (right), at the Institute of European Affairs in Dublin in 2006.

FitzGerald retired as leader of Fine Gael immediately after the election by the Dáil of Charles Haughey as Taoiseach, to be replaced by Alan Dukes. His autobiography All in a Life appeared in 1991, immediately becoming a best-seller. He retired completely from politics at the 1992 general election. His wife, Joan, predeceased him, dying in 1999 after a long illness.

After that FitzGerald wrote a weekly column every Saturday in The Irish Times, and lectured widely at home and abroad on public affairs. He came out of retirement to campaign for a "yes" vote in the second Irish referendum on the EU's Treaty of Nice, held in 2002. He held the post of Chancellor of the National University of Ireland from 1997 to 2009. In March 2000, Fitzgerald was on the Board of Directors of Election.com, when it conducted the world's first public election ever held over the Internet, which was the Arizona Democratic Primary, which was won by Al Gore; in that primary, voter turnout increased more than 500% over the 1996 primary.[7]

FitzGerald took a leading part in the campaign for the second referendum on the EU's Treaty of Lisbon in 2009. He argued for Ireland to continue with European integration. FitzGerald has been scathing of the record of the Fianna Fáil led Government since 1997 on the economy and the national finances. He criticises frequently, in his column in The Irish Times, the loss of competitiveness that occurred and the inflation caused by the tax cuts and excessive public spending increases of the Celtic Tiger era. In 2009, FitzGerald received a new ministerial car, the first and only one to be purchased by the state since an economic recession hit the country in 2008.[8] In 2010, FitzGerald appeared on RTÉ's "Top 40 Irishmen" list.
Death

On 5 May 2011, it was reported that FitzGerald was seriously ill in a Dublin hospital. The Taoiseach Enda Kenny sent his regards and called him an "institution".[9][10] He was put on a ventilator.[11]

Garret FitzGerald died on 19 May 2011, aged 85, in the Mater Private hospital in Dublin.[12][13][14]
Finances

In early 1999 it was revealed that some six years earlier, AIB and Ansbacher Banks wrote off debts of almost IR£200,000 owed by FitzGerald following the collapse of the aircraft leasing company, Guinness Peat Aviation, in which he was a shareholder.[15] Chairman of AIB at the time, Peter Sutherland, was also a former director of GPA and had served as Attorney General under FitzGerald, prior to FitzGerald appointing him as Ireland's member of the European Commission. The Moriarity Tribunal investigated this matter, and compared the treatment by AIB of FitzGerald with their treatment of Charles Haughey. They found no evidence of any wrongdoing, indeed the Tribunal heard evidence as to the considerable hardship that FitzGerald went to - to the extent of selling of his family home - to repay the debt to the best of his ability.

The Tribunal concluded in their report:
In summary it would appear that in compromising his indebtedness with the Bank, Dr. Fitzgerald disposed of his only substantial asset, namely, his family home at Palmerston Road, a property which would now be worth a considerable sum of money. As in Mr. Haughey's case, there was a substantial discounting or forbearance shown in Dr. Fitzgerald's case. However in contrast with Mr. Haughey's case, Dr. Fitzgerald's case involved the effective exhaustion of his assets in order to achieve a settlement whereas Mr. Haughey's assets were retained virtually intact.[citation needed]

Governments

The following governments were led by FitzGerald:

17th Government of Ireland (June 1981–March 1982)
19th Government of Ireland (December 1982–March 1987)

References

^ "Dr. Garret FitzGerald". Oireachtas Members Database. Retrieved 30 May 2010.
^ "The Bar Council of Ireland | Law Library". Lawlibrary.ie. Retrieved 2011-05-19.
^ FitzGerald stated this in an interview with Ursula Halligan on The Political Party, TV3.
^ "Garret FitzGerald". ElectionsIreland.org. Retrieved 30 May 2010.
^ Down Down Deeper and Down: Ireland in the 70's and 80's by Eamonn Sweeney, pg. 231
^ These events came back to haunt one of the callers, Brian Lenihan, when his differing accounts of his role that night led to his dismissal from Haughey's cabinet in 1990 during his own unsuccessful presidential election campaign.
^ [2+Arizona+Democratic+Party+Selects+Votation.com+to+Hold+World's...-a058487613]
^ Conor Lally Crime Correspondent. "State cars and Garda drivers cost almost €11m over past two years". The Irish Times. 15 October 2010. "In 2008 11 of the cars were changed at a cost to the exchequer of €510,000. However, since then and because of the recession, only one car has been bought, for former taoiseach Garret FitzGerald in 2009".
^ "Garret FitzGerald, former Irish prime minister, seriously ill in hospital". The Guardian. 5 May 2011.
^ "Taoiseach gives details of job creation concept on US mission". The Irish Times. 6 May 2011.
^ "'Irish institution' FitzGerald put on ventilator after falling seriously ill". Irish Examiner. 6 May 2011.
^ "Garret FitzGerald dies aged 85". RTÉ News. 19 May 2011.
^ Former taoiseach Garret FitzGerald dies aged 85 Irish Times, 2011-05-19
^ "A courageous and visionary taoiseach" Irish Times, 2011-05-19.
^ AIB and Ansbacher wrote off Fitzgerald's £200,000 debt – RTÉ News, 17 February 1999.

Register

The Irish Community have posted
2 REPLIES TO THIS TOPIC
for logged in members to view.

Irish Forums Message Discussion :: Garret FitzGerald former Taoiseach

Garret FitzGerald former Taoiseach